Страница 36 из 172
“Because it’s way too much trouble at three o’clock in the morning,” Ivanov said. “Besides, I expect most of the officers down there are quite happy to let the vigilantes take the heat if a possessed did step out of a train. They act as a buffer.”
“Is Govcentral being stupid allowing the vac-trains to continue?” Louise asked.
“Not stupid, just slow. It is the universe’s largest bureaucracy, after all.” He waved a hand at the informationals flittering overhead. “See? They’ve shut a few routes down already. And public pressure will close a lot more before long. It’ll snowball once everyone’s had time to access the Edmonton fight. This time tomorrow you’ll have trouble getting a taxi to take you further than a couple of streets.”
“Do you think we’ll be able to leave London again?”
“Probably not.”
The way he said it sounded so final: a pronouncement rather than an opinion. As always, an authority in knowledge he had no business knowing.
“All right,” Louise said. “I suppose we’d better go back to the hotel, then.”
“I’ll come with you,” Ivanov said. “There might be a few more of these nutters around. It wouldn’t do for the natives to learn you’re from Norfolk right now. These are paranoid times.”
For some reason, Andy Behoo popped into Louise’s mind; his offer to sponsor her for Govcentral citizenship. “Thank you.”
“What about you?” Ivanov asked Ba
“No thank you. I know where I’m going.” She walked off towards the lifts around the rim of the hemispherical cavern.
“Don’t mention it,” Louise muttered grumpily at her back.
“I expect she’s grateful, really,” Ivanov said. “Probably just doesn’t know how to express it.”
“She could try harder.”
“Come along, let’s get you two home to bed. It’s been a long day.”
Qui
He trailed after Louise as she walked over to the lifts with her brat sister and the huge private eye. She was very drowsy, which relaxed her face. It left her delicate features unguarded and natural; a state which served only to amplify her beauty. He wanted to put out a hand and stroke her exquisite cheeks, to see her smile gently at his touch. Welcome him.
She frowned, and rubbed her arms. “It’s cold down here.” The moment broke.
Qui
The second alley leading off from the main street contained what he wanted. The Black Bull, a small, cheap pub, filled with hard-drinking men. He moved among them, unseen as his expanded senses examined their clothing and skulls. None of them were fitted with neural nanonics, but several were carrying processor blocks.
He followed one into the toilets, where the only electrical circuit was for the light panel.
Jack McGovern was peeing blissfully into the cracked urinal when an icy hand clamped round the back of his neck and slammed his face into the wall. His nose broke from the impact, sending a torrent of blood to splash into the porcelain.
“You will take your processor block from your coat pocket,” a voice said. “Use your activation code, and make a call for me. Do it now, or die, dickhead.”
Rat-arsed he might have been, but overdosing on self-preservation allowed Jack’s mind to focus with remarkable clarity on his options. “Okay,” he mumbled, a lip movement which sent more blood dribbling down the wall. He fumbled for his processor block. There was an emergency police-hail program which was activated by feeding in the wrong code.
The terrible pressure on his neck eased off, allowing him to turn. When he saw who his assailant was, the thought of deviously calling for help withered faster than hell’s solitary snowflake.
Qui
The Frankfurt train pulled in at five minutes past five. Qui
They moved at a brisk pace across the floor and hopped into a lift. Qui
At five-thirty, the sixth train from Edmonton arrived. A notice slithered over the holograms a
It was just a little scary how his prediction had come so true. But then he was bound to be right, with God’s Brother gifting him understanding.
People were coming up from the platforms: the last straggle of passengers, the vigilante gangs (already eyeing each other now the reason for their truce was over), the police duty teams, station crews. Informationals floating overhead vanished like pricked bubbles. Display boards blanked out. The twenty-four hour stalls closed up, their staff gossiping hotly together at they rode the lifts up to the surface. The wave escalators halted. All the solaris lights overhead dimmed down, sinking the cavern into a gloomy dusk. Even the conditioning fans slowed, their whine dropping several octaves.
It was the paranoiac moment every solipsist fears. The world was a stage constructed around him, and this chunk of it was shutting down as it was no longer part of the act. For a second, Qui
“Not yet,” he said. “Soon though.”
He took a last look round, then went over to one of the emergency fire stairs and started the long trek to the surface and the rendezvous point.
Louise was surprised at how much she associated the hotel room with home. But it was reassuring to be back after the ordeal of Edmonton. Partly it was because she now considered her obligation over: she’d done what she promised dear Fletcher and warned Ba